I’ve been racing bikes since I was fourteen. I mostly race mountain, but sometimes you can catch me in a road race. I’ve always been faced with being the minority on a team of boys, so when I started working in a bike shop two years ago, it felt like I was just going through the paces. Boys would hover over my shoulder as I worked on bikes or stand behind me as I spoke with clients, just to make sure I wasn’t “misinforming” anyone or doing something incorrectly. I was and still am spoken over by male coworkers from behind me dailey. What can be even more frustrating is that customers often ask my male counterparts their opinions on questions they have just asked me, only to receive the same exact answer. This is done in front of me all of the time! My goal isn’t to rant about sexism in a workplace dominated by ‘bro’ culture or to complain about how unfair it is that I have to prove myself over and over again just to be taken seriously in the bike industry. No, my goal is to express how lucky I’ve been to end up where I am and half of it isn’t luck at all, it’s because I am female.
The truth is, being female means I’ve gotten some pretty cool opportunities in the mountain bike industry. Lots of teams want women riders to be a part of their programs and staff. This past summer Pivot Cycles sent one of their pro riders around the country to film at local trails and bike shops. I was asked to be a part of a segment with him. We rode some of Vermont’s best single track and a fabulous segment was produced.
https://media.giphy.com/media/MayyXgCIeV7khpIKMn/giphy.gif
I took it as a win for women’s mountain biking and praised the industry for taking a step towards equal coverage of riders, however, when the video was released I felt as though I had upset my coworkers. My shoulder was still looked over and my actions double checked. I gained an incredible amount of praise don’t get me wrong, but the narrative while talking about the segment always feels skewed. I’m asked how Pivot chose me for the segment, to which I always want to respond by saying it’s because “I’m a strong, badass rider and I deserved it”, but I can’t come off as conceited can I? I have to remain humble and respond by saying what I overheard my manager say, “they wanted a local female rider”. I have to because he isn’t wrong. I was chosen because I am female, not just because I’m a strong rider and that’s a strange cookie to swallow sometimes. Not many women stay in the mountain bike industry because it can be hard to find footing, but when you do, being a woman isn’t all bad. So this is what I am met with; success because I represent a minority and bias because I am a minority. What else is new though?